Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

Most of us have an umbrella on hand for practical, inexpensive protection against the rain, but this simple device has a more rich and interesting history than you might think. In the Middle East of thousands of years ago, for example, umbrellas were emblems of rank and royalty. In Egypt, parasols of papyrus and palm fronds represented the sky goddess Nut, who arched her body over the earth like an umbrella over the head of a king.

Greek and Roman women of high status carried umbrellas as sunshades, and they were sometimes even used to protect the effigies of the gods during their celebrations.

There is evidence that the Spanish and Portuguese were fashioning umbrellas for use against the scorching Mediterranean sun as early as the 15th century. The English considered them effeminate, even superfluous, since excess exposure to solar radiation was not a concern on the British Isles. By the mid-1700s, however, Londoners began carrying modified umbrellas for protection against precipitation, though the originators of that practice were jeered and ridiculed. The French, who were not so averse to the device, called it a parapluie, meaning "against the rain."

Today, of course, most Britons and North Americans carry umbrellas. Whether the umbrella is used as sunshade or rain guard, its ancient history is revealed in the etymology of the word. First appearing in English in the 17th century, umbrella is Italian in origin and means "little shadow."

Radio Script > Umbrella